We came up with this sample drawing to illustrate the common sections found in a typical home. What we have shown here is just an imaginative 2BHK apartment which is square in shape! In reality square shape is not easy to come by especially in apartments. But the purpose is not to be an architectural whiz but to just break a home into the essential components so that we could understand them and team Aavaas can cover each section in detail in the coming days.

We are are sure that no single room labelled in the picture above needs introduction. However we would have a small write up on each of them below. Just a casual read. The first 3 rooms are being covered in this article. The rest would follow over the next few days.

Reception

The number one room which one would encounter when entering this imaginary home, the reception would be a place where people could leave their footwear, the owners could have shoe rack  and other things like umbrellas, rain coat storage, newspaper holders. You could also put up some paintings or works of art in the reception area. A bookshelf is also a good candidate for being placed in the reception area.

Hall

The “h” in the “BHK” convention, the hall would be also called living room by some people. Typically people have sofa sets, televisions, centre tables/coffee tables in their living room. Telephones, home theatres, electrical fittings, carpetswould go in it too. Bean bags, lazing couches are perfect to grab a book and relax for a Sunday afternoon reading if one has the taste for it. If the home is enabled with Wi-Fi, then having a laptop in the hall is not a bad idea to surf the Internet while being on the couch. You could also have a water dispenser installed if you have some extra space.

Dining Room

The room shown in the picture as the “dining” area is quite large. It adjoins the kitchen. So serving food should not be a problem for the lady of the house. The small quarter circle which is seen on the wall between dining room and kitchen is a wash basin. The extra space could be used as a study. Some could consider having a swing inside the house if necessary.

For all these three rooms the common elements are:

• Floor
• Wall
• Ceiling
• Door
• Window (if applicable)
• Electric fittings
• Communication fittings (if applicable)
• Extra accessories

So while planning a home you should keep the above points in mind. This article will continue. Enjoy your Sunday afternoon.

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Wall Clocks, a common item found in most Indian homes. So simple to install but so many choices out there. We wanted to take a break from consumer appliances which have been prominent on the front page of our portal for quite some time now. Instead we decided to write about unconventional things which still are essential part of your home.

Click on the image to enlarge

Wall clocks are time keeping, battery operated devices. Usually they are mounted on the wall with the help of a nail. Most Wall clocks are powered by a single AA battery which needs to be replaced once in about 6 months or so. Others may require more than one AA cell or even bigger cells to power its circuitry.

Swiss watches are not battery operated. Instead you may need to wind them up with a key or use the attached strings with weights to wind the clock’s mechanism.

Let us look at some of the types of clocks available in the market today for you to choose from.

• Simple electronic analog clock - These display just the time with either 2 or 3 hands. (hours/minutes/seconds). They operate with one battery or two at the most. You could have all the hours printed or only the 4 key hours printed on the face of the clock - 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours. Some models have an hourly chime option to indicate the start of a new hour.

• Analog Clock with date and day option : In addition to the options mentioned in the first type, these clocks display the date and day of the week as well. These are perhaps not that functional unless they have perpetual calendar built in as this would require you to change the date once in two months. The mechanism within in most cases will not automatically switch over to 1st of July after 30th of June. This is equivalent to wrist watches with a date and day display.

• Simple digital clocks , LED based - Here you have the time displayed either in 12 hour or 24 hour format with the help of light emitting diodes. The advantage is that the visibility of time is good even when the room is not lit. But this may also be a disadvantage for rooms like bedroom. Most often such clocks are used in public places but a few choose them for their homes as well.

• Simple digital clocks , LCD based - Here the display is made from “liquid crystal”. The battery life for such clocks are high and they are even capable of displaying date, day and some additional details like temperature of the room, relative humidity and more.

• Mechanical clocks - These are fading away from regular use since the advent of electronic clocks. They are more of a traditional aspect in one’s home today. Serious collectors also have a variety of mechanical clocks with interesting mechanisms and features. Imported Swiss clocks or cuckoo clocks also fall in this category. These are really impressive and expensive at the same time. For every new hour, the cuckoo clock has the wooden bird come out of its cage and chirp a number of times which indicates the time too.

Mechanical clocks in particular the cuckoo clocks are very tough to maintain. Repairs have to be carried out by trained and authorized stores or else you end up loosing a good investment.

You could buy a clock for your home ranging from Rs. 150/- all the way to perhaps Rs. 1,00,000/- or more.

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We see them in all shapes, textures, colors and conditions! Floor mats are a common find in every home. But there is more to them then just the name and this article intends to explore further on this topic.

Mats tend to do serve more than one purpose. They protect the floor, keeps a check on slipperiness, cushions the feet and so on. Choosing the right mat involves picking the right color to match the interiors, texture to suit your needs and mood and also from many varieties such as woven mats, rubber mats, coir mats, vinyl mats and foam mats.

Types of floor mats

Depending on the application we have the following types of mats

• Welcome mat (entrance mat)
• Shower mat
• Bathroom mat
• Bedroom mat
• Kitchen mat

Welcome Mats

These are typical for most homes. They are built from rugged material and tend to clean the mud and sand which is found on the sole of shoes. You can see them made from substances like coir, or rubber which has bristles to create that cleaning effect. Welcome mats need to be cleaned often as they collect not only the grime from footwear but also tend to collect dust and debris from the atmosphere.

Image Courtesy : floormatdirectory.com

One common problem that can exist if the door mat is placed very close to the door, is that it can prevent the door from being open/closed easily. To avoid this, one can choose to have a small cut out on the floor where the mat rests in-line with the floor level. However you need to ensure that the size of this cut-out is optimum as it would then be tough to get the right mat to fit into it !

Shower Mats

These are used just outside the shower cubicle or a bath area. They have small vacuum pads which lock the mat firmly on the floor (the floor should be smooth enough to let the vacuum work) and on the top surface has an anti-slippery texture to do the obvious - prevent slipping just after shower!

Image Courtesy : akamai.net

Bathroom Mat

These are placed just outside the bathroom and are designed to absorb the moisture is present on the feet after a shower. The bathroom mats have to be dried regularly if it gets too wet to prevent foul smell. Also they should be washed once in a fortnight or so depending on the usage. Most hotels use thick towels folded up as bathroom mats. This way it is easier to wash them in a regular washing machine.

Image Courtesy : indiamart.com

Bedroom Mat

These provide a cozy feeling to users in the bedroom. It helps people brush their feet just before getting into the bed which prevents soiling of the bed covers. also in cold conditions, these serve to make getting out of the bed a comfortable affair as placing feet on a cold floor is a chilling effect.

Kitchen Mat

Rubber and Vinyl mats are great for kitchen and utility areas where one has to stand for a considerable amount of time. Additionally, rubber and vinyl mats protects the floor from dripping water and soap, if placed under the tub/sink area.

Image Courtesy : cartwheelfactory.com

If you think some more information needs to be added here, please let us know.

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Thought it’ll help us a bit if we were to list down the categories of household appliances that we know of. This will allow you to check whether you have these items with you and whether you need more information on any one in particular.

Am leaving out the personal hygiene/grooming items and furnishing related categories as those deserve to be treated separately. Am also not mentioning the gardening & automobile related items; again, a separate category. Not to forget the electronic items like laptops & cameras, definitely a separate class.

Kitchen items

1. Cooking ranges
2. Cooking oils
3. Cutlery
4. Hobs
5. Gas fitting
6. Electric chimneys
7. Blenders
8. Dishwashers
9. Electric kettles
10. Coffee makers
11. Ovens/Toasters
12. Juicer / Mixer / Grinder
13. Microwave ovens
14. Pressure cookers
15. Grill sandwichers
16. Water purifiers
17. Refrigerators
18. Food processors

Other Items

1. Irons/kit for ironing
2. Medicine chest/First Aid Kit
3. Inverters
4. Emergency lights/ Torch / Candles
5. Televisions / Audio systems
6. Air conditioners
7. Mini bars
8. Water dispensers / Bubbletops
9. Water Heaters/Geysers
10. Vacuum cleaners /Broom / Mop
11. Insect repellants
12. Sewing machines
13. Washing machines
14. Washing items - soaps, detergents etc.

Feel free to suggest more items to this list. We would like to have an as comprehensive as possible listing with us.

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I am quite sure that most of you face this problem at home. How to effectively manage footwear at home?

Lets do a quick math here. Assume that a home has 4 occupants, Dad, Mom , Daughter and a Son.

Dad needs - 1 formal pair of shoes, 1 Semi casual pair of shoes, 1 set of sport shoes , 1 Formal pair of slippers /Sandals and 1 all purpose slipper for regular indoor/outdoor use.

5 pairs for dad.

Mom needs (lets say) - 3 pairs of slippers , 1 set of sneakers for walking and 1 all purpose slipper for regular indoor/outdoor use.

5 pairs for mom.

Daughter needs - 1 sports shoe for school , 1 regular shoe for school , 1 pair of slippers + 1 all purpose slipper for regular indoor/outdoor use.

4 pairs for daughter.

Son needs the same as the daughter.

4 pairs for son.

 We are talking roughly 18 pair of shoes for the given family. And what do we do to store these footwear?

Image Courtesy : addalock.com

We use stands like the one shown above. This really not a good solution. It gathers dust. Your footwear can be stolen or misplaced. Leather goods can absorb moisture from the air in humid conditions and deteriorate over a period of time.

So have you managed your footwear in a different manner than described above? If so, please share it with us.

In apartments especially managing footwear can be tough as one has to consider keeping them right outside their homes which can remove the aesthetic appeal. Or they have to resort to storing the shoe rack in the balcony or some other vacant place.

Do share your opinions.

have a nice weekend.

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